GOES-8 and NOAA-14 AVHRR retrieval of smoke aerosol optical thickness during SCAR-B

Using the NOAA-14 1-km Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-8) imager data, smoke aerosol optical thickness (tau) is retrieved over land during the Smoke, Clouds and Radiation-Brazil (SCAR-B) experiment in Brazil during August-September 1995. The satellite-retrieved tau values are then compared against ground-based sunphotometer derived tau values from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) program. Both the AVHRR and GOES-8 retrieved tau values are in excellent agreement with the AERONET derived tau values with linear correlation coefficients of 0.93. A single scattering albedo of 0.90 (at 0.67 mum) provides the best fit between the GOES-8 and AERONET tau values. The sensitivity of the retrieved tau to assumed surface albedo and aerosol single scattering albedo are also examined. A simple multi-spectral thresholding algorithm is used to separate smoke from other features from GOES-8 satellite imagery and regional maps of tau are provided. Our results show that the aerosol properties used in this paper are adequate to characterize biomass burning aerosols and can be used in studies that model the role of biomass burning on regional climate.